College Basketball: Friday, November 11, 2016 at 7:00 pm (Rupp Arena)

TV: SEC Network (ESPN)

The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks will travel to Rupp Arena to take on the 2nd ranked Kentucky Wildcats this Friday night in College Basketball action.

The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks have become one of the more well-known smaller conference teams over the past few years after making three straight NCAA Tournaments, however, Stephen F. Austin will need a lot of help to continue this current run of success as it looks as if the Lumberjacks will be facing a rebuilding season in 2016-17. Stephen F. Austin lost their head coach, Brad Underwood, who took over the coaching duties at Oklahoma State and will be replaced by Kyle Keller. The Lumberjacks lost many key contributors from last year’s team including Thomas Walkup (18.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and Demetrious Floyd (13.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg). Returning for Stephen F. Austin will be Ty Charles (9-4 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and T.J. Holyfield (7.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg). The Lumberjacks will hope that junior-college transfer Leon Gilmore (played at Creighton in 14-15) and newcomers Leon Gilmore III and Isaiah Traylor can make immediate impacts to keep the Lumberjacks competitive in the Southland Conference.

USA TODAY Sports

The 2nd ranked Kentucky Wildcats once again come into their season as a young and talented team that has their eyes set on bring home a National Championship to Lexington. Coach Calipari will no longer have the services of Jamal Murray (20.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Tyler Jones (17.3 ppg, 7.0 apg), Alex Poythress (10.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg), and Skal Labissiere (6.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg) however, once again brought in of the better recruiting classes in the nation. Leading the way for the Kentucky this season will be guard D’Aaron Fox, guard Malik Monk, and forward Bam Adebayo who are all projected to be on All-SEC teams by the end of the season. The Wildcats do return one starter from last year’s team in Isaiah Briscoe who averaged 9.6 ppg and 5.3 rpg. When it comes to Kentucky the biggest questions at the beginning of the year is if the Wildcats will have enough leadership and chemistry to become one of the best teams in the country, as once again, Kentucky is not short on talent.

The Lumberjacks are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 Friday games. The Wildcats are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 home games however, just 3-9 ATS in their last 12 non-conference games.

Stephen F. Austin would have been able to give the Wildcats a game last year however, with a new head coach and a lineup that is mostly unproven, the Lumberjacks could be in big trouble in this one. This is a monster line for the a Wildcats team that doesn’t have much experience playing with each other however, I think Wildcats are for real this season and should have no problem taking care of business at home in this one. Take Kentucky to cover.

Kentucky Wildcats -20

Comments (0)

Activities offered by advertising links to other sites may be deemed an illegal activity in certain jurisdictions. Viewers are specifically warned that they should inquire into the legality of participating in any games and/or activities offered by such other sites. The owner of this website assumes no responsibility for the actions by and makes no representation or endorsement of any of these games and/or activities offered by the advertiser. As a condition of viewing this website viewers agree to hold the owner of this website harmless from any claims arising from the viewer’s participation in any of the games and/or activities offered by the advertiser.
About Us | Advertise with us | Copyright & Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Join our team